


Whumptober 2020 23 Exhaustion

by frankie_mcstein



Series: Whumptober 2020 [23]
Category: Magnum P.I. (TV 2018)
Genre: Explosions, Gen, Hints of backstory, Protective boys, SEAL training, Whumptober 2020, danger UXB - Freeform, forest trips, landmines, poor Higgins, uhoh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27162499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frankie_mcstein/pseuds/frankie_mcstein
Summary: Whumptober 2020 prompt 23- Exhaustion"Rick? I think I just stepped on a landmine. I heard the click."
Relationships: Juliet Higgins & Everyone
Series: Whumptober 2020 [23]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1947172
Comments: 12
Kudos: 58





	Whumptober 2020 23 Exhaustion

**Author's Note:**

> So there really are areas on Oahu where hikers are warned to stay on the trails at all times due to the slim chance they might otherwise step on a landmine that was planted back when there was a training base there. Yeah, you know I couldn't resist that!

Shimmers of heat were making it hard to see too far into the distance. But that was okay; they needed to keep their eyes on the dubious path they were following anyway. Higgins had already slipped once, a branch rolling under her foot as she'd been distracted by what she'd thought was evidence of someone passing through.

Rick had managed to catch her, snagging her arm as it flew up and back. She'd assured him she was fine, even managed to blush a little like she was embarrassed to have nearly fallen. But it was getting increasingly obvious that the pretty little blush and downcast eyes had been designed to distract Rick from the fact that her knee was definitely bothering her.

He was starting to get a little annoyed with her pushing herself on when even Magnum had admitted their search through the forest was, at best, a wild goose chase. But she was determined to ignore him when he dropped hints about heading back, so he shook his head and resigned himself to having to carry her when her leg inevitably gave way beneath her.

The rough terrain was making it hard even for him to keep up a fair pace. From the sweat that she kept trying to unobtrusively wipe away, he was estimating another half an hour at the most, and that was more because she was stubborn than because he thought her leg could actually handle it.

So when she called his name, her voice quiet and painfully casual, he nodded to himself before he turned to face her.

"Everything okay?" He expected her to say she needed a break or maybe try to make it sound like she was worried about him. So when she finally did speak, the same cringe-worthy tone of fake casual ringing through the forest, it took him a second to realize what she'd said.

"I think I stepped on a landmine."

He had his mouth open, ready to suggest they stop for a drink and then head back, before the words filtered through to him. He locked his eyes on hers, seeing the very real fear lurking there, and remembering the signs warning hikers about unexploded ordnance in the area. He felt a surge of mindless anger toward whichever ineffective government official had listed the area to the west, the area they were in, as clear.

"Jules…" But whatever he was about to say, some sort of platitude, he thought, she cut him off.

"I heard a click." She swallowed hard. "I'm no expert, but that's what you're meant to listen for, isn't it?"

It was. He knew it was. He'd been trained to cross potential mine fields, to scout ahead, to follow safe paths, to listen for the click. He kept his eyes on her as he carefully took his backpack off and lowered it to the ground. Then he had to look away, to fix his eyes on the faint imprints his feet had made, to follow the path over to her.

"Rick." She sounded scared now, but he didn't stop moving forward.

"I need to check what's under your foot," he told her, his voice carefully devoid of emotion. "We need to know what we're dealing with." And he dropped to his knees, scrabbling at the dirt by the toe of her boot and praying to see her standing on two loose stones or a piece of trash.

Instead, he found himself staring at metal, rusted and filthy and unmistakably a landmine. It was his turn to gulp down hard, smothering the feelings that wanted to well up. He latched on to the idea that, given its size, it was more likely to be anti-personnel than anti-tank, a smaller charge and smaller blast radius. And his face was calm when he looked back up at her.

"Definitely ordnance," he told her, watching as her chest heaved at his words.

"Then you need to leave." She bit the words off, like she was trying to stop him arguing by talking quickly.

"Not happening." 

"This thing's been here since the forties. It's probably unstable, which means me standing here might not stop it going off. You need to leave."

"Juliet. No. It's gonna be okay." He made it sound as matter-of-fact as he could. 

A fellow Marine probably wouldn't have appreciated the lie, but Higgins wasn't military. Her eyes were locked on his, searching for any sign that he didn't believe his own words, and he pressed down on his doubts ruthlessly. 

"I'll just call Tommy." And he reached for his cell, glad for the opportunity to look away from her searching gaze.

"It won't respond to the mobile signal, will it?"

And that, more than the look on her face, told Rick his little sister was terrified; she knew enough to know it was a purely mechanical thing, nothing in it could possibly react to a cell phone. But he gave her a reassuring look, was careful to make it sound like it was a fair concern.

"No radio activation," he said, pressing the emergency button on his phone to get to Magnum's number a second or two quicker than using the speed dial would have been. He stood as he waited through the ringing that seemed to be taking years, keeping his shoulders relaxed.

_ "Hey, Rick. Found something?" _

Rick could hear the grin in Magnum's voice, clearly the other man had been greatly enjoying stamping about in the forest. He almost felt guilty for having to spoil things.

"We've got a tiny issue here." Understatement was the way to go, keep everyone calm. Keep Jules calm. "Higgy is standing on a landmine." 

The silence lasted maybe a second, and, when Magnum spoke, his voice was tense.

_ "Understood. We'll head to your location." _

Rick knew Magnum was feeling the same tension he was, the same tension that always built when they knew they were heading into a situation that had the potential to blow up in their faces. And man, was that ever the wrong choice of words?

"Rick?"

"Tommy and T.C. are heading over to us. Probably gonna take them a while though; we got pretty far along our search path."

"My leg's shaking." Higgins couldn't stop the color draining from her face. "All my weight is on it."

"No problem, Jules." He even managed to smile.

Rick moved as fast as he dared when he was practically toe-to-pressure-plate with an almost definitely unstable mine and stepped away. Then he turned and started searching for a branch long and thick enough to help Higgins balance her weight. It took longer than he would have liked, and he had to go farther than he wanted.

Her head snapped up when he pushed his way through the low-hanging branches, and he pretended not to notice her swiping furiously at her cheek. Or the way her eyes were glistening in the dim light that was filtering through the thick canopy. 

"Try this." He put his hand on her shoulder as she gingerly leaned against the branch, moving back when he felt her steady herself.

"Thank you." She didn't look at him. "But I still think you should leave. And stop Magnum and T.C. from coming here too."

"Jules…"

"Magnum was a SEAL," she snapped, her tone cold. "If I was stuck up against a sea mine, I'd be thrilled to have him there. But why would a SEAL know anything about disabling landmines that were planted decades before he was born?"

Rick could tell she was trying to sound clinical, like she was using logic. But he knew her too well; he knew the fear she was hiding was only partly for herself. She was scared someone else would get hurt while trying to save her.

"You do know what SEAL stands for, right? Sea, air, and land." He waited until she was looking at him before he carried on. "The land part is important." And he grinned, like they were bantering, like they were simply discussing Magnum's suitability for some absurd idea he'd had, like they weren't waiting for him to literally save the day.

"There's demolition too, right?" Higgins' sounded shaky, like she was tired and struggling to keep track of the conversation. Or, maybe, like she was trying to convince herself of the possibility that she wasn't going to die in the forest with nothing but a small crater to mark the position.

"Oh yeah, basic underwater… hey. Did you know that's actually how Tommy and Nuzo met?" He waited for her to shake her head before sitting in front of her. "Well, there's three phases after orientation, right? And the last phase is land warfare, where they handle all kinds of live ammo."

By the time he'd gotten to the part where Magnum and Nuzo had nearly accidentally shot their instructor due to a misunderstanding over the length of the course they were meant to be following, it had been over an hour since he'd made the call. Higgins had laughed at all the right places, and, at some points, like when Nuzo had fallen out of the IBS and taken two other trainees with him, it had almost sounded genuine.

Rick wasn't sure if it was a trick of the uncertain light or not, but it seemed to him like the shadows were starting to lengthen. He was starting to catch himself listening out for footsteps and voices and noticing that Higgins was trying to shift without actually moving.

"Jules? How's your leg holding up?"

"It's not. And my back is starting to cramp." She didn't meet his eyes as she spoke.

He was pretty sure she was about to try to insist, again, that he leave, and he had opened his mouth to tell her not to bother when his cell beeped. The screen told him Magnum and T.C. were near, getting closer, and he felt a rush of relief that he hid as well as he could; she didn't need to know how incredibly worried he really was.

"They're nearly here, Jules. Tommy'll take care of this and spend the rest of the week feeling guilty about it."

It was meant to be a joke, but it fell flat. Magnum would have felt guilty over her injured leg. The knowledge that she had spent over an hour standing on a landmine, weight resting on a leg that should have been elevated and wrapped, scared for her life, would keep him awake at night. And he would probably try to mother-hen Higgins for a lot more than a week. 

That was always assuming she made it back home for him to fuss over her. Rick tried to shrug the thought away, but it was there now, settling in his brain. How would Magnum react if something happened and they couldn't get Higgins off the mine? How would he react if he lost his partner to something so stupid?

And then he heard a yell and saw Higgins twitch as she resisted the instinctive urge to turn and follow the sound.

"Over here, guys!" he called, not willing to leave Higgins' side in case she thought for even a second that the three of them were going to suddenly turn and run and leave her to either hang on until HPD's bomb disposal unit could find her or blow up when her legs inevitably gave out. It was an uncharitable thought; he knew their Higgy knew them better than that, but he couldn't help but feel that she would feel abandoned if he left her side. 

Magnum came into view first, sweat running freely down his face. T.C. followed close behind. Both men were breathing heavily, a testament to how hard they had pushed themselves to get to Higgins.

"We called Gordon," Magnum said, sounding effortlessly casual. "He's arranging for a team to come out and sweep the area now they know it might be a hot spot." Then he turned to take in Higgins, her obviously far too stiff posture that screamed pain, and raised an eyebrow.

"She fell earlier; I think she maybe pulled something. It's been bothering her ever since." Rick didn't look at Higgins as he spoke and very deliberately didn't mention the way her injury had made her struggle to keep her weight on the pressure plate. 

Magnum nodded, carefully wiped his face, then walked around so he was in front of Higgins. "Fancy meeting you here." 

She huffed a laugh, but it was a weak attempt, and the smile that accompanied it was watery. Rick moved slowly out of the way so Magnum could crouch down and examine what he could see of the mine.

Magnum shifted more of the dead leaves and dirt, carefully scooping it away. The studious look on his face, the way every scrap of his attention had transferred to the device, seemed to be reassuring Higgins. Her eyes were fixed on his bent back, and she was tracking every shift of his body. Rick took advantage to shift a little farther and have a very quiet conversation with T.C.

"She's not gonna be able to move too fast," he muttered, trying to talk without moving his lips. He didn't want to assume that they would end up running; there was every possibility that Magnum actually would know exactly how to disarm the wretched thing. So he tried to hint at the potential problems. "Her leg is already basically useless, her back has been cramping for a bit, her shoulders are probably on the way out…"

T.C. just looked at him, a calm expression on his face. "If she can't run, we'll carry her." 

And the two of them moved forward, perfectly in sync. They carefully kept their distance, both worrying about the effect too many vibrations might have on the explosive, but they got as close as they dared. And they both stayed on their toes, ready to lunge forward if they needed to.

Magnum gave them a look, as if to tell them he knew exactly what they were doing. The worrying thing was the flash of gratitude that flickered through his eyes. Both men tensed, knowing what that look meant. He was going to wing it and was counting on them to help. 

Rick stayed where he was, and T.C. moved around to Higgins' other side. She didn't move her head to look at either of them, and they got the impression her shoulders were too stiff to allow it.

"This is easy," Magnum was saying. "I can use my knife to jimmy this open, pour in some of this loose dirt, and it'll jam the works. Then we just stroll off."

"Stroll off?" Higgins sounded like she had never heard anything so ridiculous.

"Sure. No need to rush; this won't be going anywhere. We'll have to mark it somehow for the clearance team." 

And now Rick and T.C. knew for sure that Magnum was lying. The mine had been exposed, there was no need to worry about a marker. Even another hiker wouldn't be able to accidentally stumble on it with its entire top half sticking out of the ground. They both tensed and angled themselves, ready to seize Higgins' arms and take off the second they got the go-ahead. 

A quick, silent conversation, heads jerking and eyebrows raising, and they had decided they would be running to their left. T.C. told Magnum the same when he looked up from the careful movements he was making with his knife; a jerk of his head all it took.

Higgins' attention was fixed on the mine; she hadn't seemed to notice the wordless discussion going on around her. Her eyes were locked on Magnum's hands as the knife worked its way deeper into the casing of the mine. She almost seemed to hold her breath as a clink signaled it was time for Magnum to start carefully trickling dirt into the metal shell. 

"Higgy Baby? Why don't you drop that stick and lean on me?" T.C. stretched out his hands, wrapping one around the stick that Higgins had a death grip on and putting the other on her arm. 

Something seemed to click into place, Higgins' face questioning for a split second, and then clearing. She nodded, biting her lip as she let T.C. take her weight. Rick was pretty sure she had guessed that Magnum was skirting the very edge of his training.

"Okay," came the altogether too cheerful voice. "Whenever you're ready, Higgy."

"Maybe it would be an idea for you to stand up before I move?" 

He didn't argue; he could tell from the look she was giving him that she fully expected the mine to detonate as soon as she shifted her weight. He wished he could explain to her that it was okay, that none of them would mind dying all that much if they did it trying to save her. Instead, he just stood, and took a step or two to the left, poised on his toes. There was no point in him trying to take any of her weight; Rick and T.C. were already in position, all Magnum would do was get in the way.

The three men watched as Higgins took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and lifted her foot. Rick lunged for her arm, T.C. took off at top speed, Magnum leading the way. Higgins' feet barely touched the ground as the two men supporting her simply lifted their arms as high as they could as they fled through the trees. 

It was a good thing. Magnum came to a stop half a minute or so later, Rick and T.C. carefully lowered their arms, and Higgins' leg crumpled as soon as it touched the ground. The three men all moved to catch her, to gently lower her down, to support her in light of the way her back seemed to be trying to twist itself around.

There was a silence for a while, broken only by the sound of heavy breathing and material splitting as Rick cut through the leg of Higgins' pants. 

"I really didn't think you knew what you were doing." The words dropped quietly from Higgins' lips into the still air and were met by an almost sheepish grin from Magnum.

"I didn't. There are some types of mines that do get gummed up if you can get dirt or sand into them," he said quickly. "But I didn't know for sure that was one of them."

Before anyone could react, an explosion ripped through the air. The three men all threw themselves forward, trying to protect Higgins while throwing their arms over their heads and necks. No one moved while the echoes bounced off the trees around them. 

When they finally sat up, Higgins blinked at Magnum who struggled to find something to say.

"Umm… I uh…" 

"Can we go home now please?" Apparently Higgins had decided arguing was going to take more energy than she had left. "I'm exhausted."

**Author's Note:**

> Just over a week to go and I'm really starting to struggle with wrapping things up lol! But I can't skip the fluffy ends! Just gotta keep going!


End file.
